


Dark Despite the Light

by ShadowMelter



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Brutality, Feels, Gen, Human/Monster War, Minor Character Death, Monster Dust, War, Wartime!Grillby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-19
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-05-15 00:30:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5764810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowMelter/pseuds/ShadowMelter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grillby is a soldier on the front line of the Human and Monster War. A tragic event draws King Asgore's attention to the young fire monster, and now Grillby finds himself at the center of a very dangerous game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Start of Something Big

**Author's Note:**

> This story only slightly connects with the Grillby in my other fanfiction: Papyrus and the Tainted Soul. You absolutely don't have to read that to read this one.

It started with an accident.

Humans and monsters had lived peacefully together for thousands of years, but all that came crumbling down due to one horrific accident. Maybe they should have seen it coming but that didn’t matter anymore. What happened has happened and nothing was going to change that, but now they had to deal with the consequences. No one could have predicted that a monster child would steal the soul of a human child. 

It was absolutely forbidden for a monster to steal a human soul. Even the worst monsters respected this rule. Monsters were taught from a young age that the act of stealing a human soul was an inexcusable act. The ancient rule was established not only to appease the humans, but to protect _everyone_. Absorbing a human soul would turn any monster into a terrifying creature with unimaginable power capable of both wonderful and horrific things. For the safety of both humans and monsters this could not be allowed, and for thousands of years this rule had been obeyed by all monsters throughout the kingdom. 

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. 

Apparently the children were playing together unsupervised near Mt. Ebott when the human child slipped and fell from the top of a cliff. By the time the monster child had reached the bottom, the human child had died. Confused and distressed, the monster child had reached out and grabbed their friend’s soul. Word of the accident quickly spread, and when the humans found out that a monster had taken a child’s soul they demanded its death. 

Even though the soul was quickly returned to the humans, it wasn’t long until the monster child was taken from their home and brought before the human leaders. Without consulting the monster kingdom’s leaders, the humans declared that the monster child must be executed for its crimes. Despite Asgore’s attempts at resolving the issue peacefully, the monster child was swiftly put to death. 

While anguish and outrage spread throughout the monster community, fear and hatred quickly consumed the human kingdom. The trust and friendship forged between monsters and humans had dissolved virtually overnight. Humans, fearing for their souls, became suspicious of their monster neighbors. Many humans packed up all their worldly possessions and fled to more human dominated areas. Monsters that lived in human dominated areas reported high levels of harassment not only from the human citizens, but from the human government as well. 

Monsters were being jailed at rates never before seen, and most of the charges were dubious at best and downright false at worst. And it wasn’t just monsters that felt the burn of injustice. Monster sympathizers were attacked on the streets and humans who were in romantic or other such relationships with monsters were torn away from their monster friends and families. 

Less than a year since the soul absorption event, the human leaders decreed that all monsters were to be expelled from the human capital and the rest of the surrounding human kingdom. The monster refugees were welcomed into the monster kingdom with open arms, but the journey between the human capital and the monster kingdom was fraught with danger. 

Even though the two kingdoms were not far apart, only a three day walk, monsters were going missing. It became apparent that local human militias were picking off fleeing monsters. It didn’t matter who it was. Men, women, children, they were all targets of these malicious groups. 

The monsters demanded something be done about these disappearances, and King Asgore heard their cries. He sent the Royal Army to defend the frightened travelers from the human threat. At this point in time, protecting the refugees was the Royal Army’s top priority, and squadrons of soldiers were created and tasked with traveling to human checkpoints and retrieving any monsters fleeing the human kingdom. 

Leading one such squadron of the Royal Army was a young and ambitious fire monster. He might have been young but Grillby had risen through the ranks quickly, and as a result he became the well-respected captain of Squadron 22. The squad itself was quite small. It was just him and four other monsters. Usually squads were much larger, but due to recent events and lack of resources, it was decided that the squads would be split up so they could cover more ground. 

Grillby’s had been allowed to hand pick his squad and every single member had been in the same year as him at the Royal Army Academy. The two dog monsters, Rolo and Max, were twins from the Greater Dog tribe. The two hulking twins carried spears and absolutely knew how to use them. Their fighting style was unique in that they used each other to fight and defend in battle. In fact, their defense capabilities were exactly why they were tasked with defending the rear of the group. 

Walking right besides Grillby was a green turtle monster with two distinctive red markings running down each side of her head. Her name was Slider, and she was the squad’s communications officer. Strapped to her shell was a bulky military radio complete with a comically large antenna. She was wearing a headset that was wired to the radio so she could receive and relay any incoming messages. Even with her heavy gear she was able to keep up with Grillby’s pace without any issues. 

Squinting, Grillby could just make out Toby dodging between trees up ahead. The only thing that gave away the fox’s position was his orange fur. Small and agile, the fox monster made an excellent scout. Should he spot any issues, he need only to radio Slider and report his findings. 

They were currently making their way back to the monster kingdom after having retrieved a group of refugees from the closest checkpoint to the human capital. The group of refugees they picked up this time around wasn’t very large. It only consisted of a family of rabbit monsters, and one elderly rock golem. Even though the refugees made it out of the capital they were still within the human kingdom, which meant the danger of being attacked was still an all too real possibility. 

They had been walking for hours in this dense forest and nighttime was steadily approaching. Grillby had already lost sight of Toby, and the thick tree coverage was only making it harder to see. They would need to make camp soon. 

Grillby was on edge. This wasn’t his first refugee retrieval mission, and something about this one wasn’t sitting right with him, but it wasn’t until just now did he realize why.  
Not wanting to scare the refugees, he walked a bit closer to Slider and in a hushed tone he whispered, “Something’s not right.” Startled, Slider looked up at him and said, “Sir?” She looked around as if hoping to spot the source of Grillby’s discomfort. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary she turned back to him she whispered, “What’s wrong? We haven’t seen a human all day.”

“Exactly.” 

They hadn’t seen a single human all day. The road they were traveling on was supposed to be a high traffic area that human merchants and farmers used frequently, but today they hadn’t encountered _anyone_. That wasn’t the only thing causing his unease. 

“Did you notice how the human guards at the checkpoint didn’t even look at us when we came to pick up the refugees?” The turtle monster shook her head and said, “Well maybe they just didn’t like looking at us. I mean, they already don’t like us so maybe they felt ignoring us was in their best interest.” 

Grillby wasn’t convinced. Every single time they had previously encountered a human checkpoint the human guards had harassed them. They typically leered at them and hissed racial slurs in an attempt to goad them into a fight. This time however, they looked… almost frightened? Hum… Grillby suddenly held up his hand signaling for the party to stop. The abruptness of the gesture caused some of the rabbit monsters to bump into each other and grumble with indignation. After quieting the monsters he turned back to Slider  
and said, “Contact Toby and request a status report.” 

The turtle monster immediately complied with the order and began adjusting the dials on her headset. Speaking into the headset microphone she began establishing contact. “S2 to T3 do you copy? I repeat, S2 to T3 do you copy?” The codes were necessary. They didn’t want to broadcast who they were and what their position was to every human in the area. 

After about two minutes of nothing but radio static, Grillby could tell Slider was growing increasingly worried. Her voice began wavering as she attempted to reach Toby. After another two minutes she was about to rip the headset off her head in frustration when a voice crackled through the static. “T3 here, what’s the issue?” Slider let out a sigh of relief and so did just about everyone else in the group. 

“T3, G1 is requesting a status report,” G1 one meaning Grillby of course.

The radio went back to static for a moment before crackling back to life with Toby’s voice. “I’m about 3 klicks ahead of your position. I believe I found a place for us to establish camp.” Slider relayed the message to Grillby. 

3 klicks? That was a little less than two miles from here. He hummed in contemplation before turning to the turtle monster. “Tell him to hold his position; our estimated time of arrival should be about 15 minutes.” Nodding her head she gave the message to Toby before slipping off the headset and letting it rest around her neck. She smiled and looked up at Grillby. “See Sir? Everything is fine.”

Grillby didn’t say anything to her. He just turned and told the rest of the party that they would be setting up camp soon and began walking. Slider appeared slightly miffed at being brushed off but hurried after her captain.

They continued on their path and it wasn’t long before they reached Toby. The small fox creature strolled over to them. “I’ve found a cave that should provide enough shelter for all of us.” Toby led the party to a cave that wasn’t very far from the road. He pointed to the opening before scurrying inside and Grillby followed after him. It was dark but his flames basked the rocky cavern in a warm light. It wasn’t too big but it would hold everyone. 

After looking around Grillby shrugged off his backpack and said, “This should do fine.” Grillby knew his flames out in the open at night would attract too much attention. The cave would provide decent cover. 

After everyone was settled in, Grillby sat against the cool cave wall. Max and Rolo brought in a bunch of branches which Grillby easily ignited. The campfire comforted the weary travelers. He undid the straps of his grey, standard issue Royal Army chest plate but didn’t take it all the way off. Reaching inside he unzipped an inner pocket and grabbed something out of it before zipping it back up again. He looked down at the object. 

It was a photo. 

In the photo was the most beautiful yellow fire monster he had ever laid eyes on. It was his wife Zenith, and wrapped in a pink cloth in her arms was a tiny green fire monster. They had named her Fuku. It had only been a month since Fuku had come into their lives and Grillby ached to get back to his wife and newborn daughter. 

Grillby prayed that war wouldn’t break out between humans and monsters. How long would something like that take him away from his family? He could barely handle being away from them already. At least after this mission he would have the next two weeks off. The thought of a well-deserved vacation with his family kept him motivated. He smiled fondly at the photo before tucking it back into his pocket and rebinding his armor straps. Still sitting, he closed his eyes and rested the back of his head against the rocky cavern wall. 

He didn’t know how long he had been sleeping before he was awoken by a scream that pierced the night sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I mention that I suck at making original characters?
> 
> Feel free to comment! I love reading comments.


	2. Losing Something Important

Grillby was on his feet in an instant. The sound of his armor scraping and clinking against the cave wall as he scrambled to his feet caused all the other cave dwellers to wake up and stare at him in confusion.

Slider looked up at him from her resting place. “What’s wrong Captain?” 

He pressed a finger against his fiery face approximately where his mouth would be if he cared enough to create one. For fire elemental monsters, creating a mouth was more for effect than necessity, and Grillby hated how ugly and jagged his mouth looked so he usually decided against such a feature. Even without a mouth his gesture for quiet was recognized and a tense silence filled the cave as they waited.

It didn’t take long for another scream to puncture the silence, and all the monsters in the cave were simultaneously overcome with the feeling of dread. The sounds were coming from somewhere very close by. 

Max and Rolo were standing by the cave entrance. Their ears were twitching, trying to pinpoint the exact location of the sound. After a few moments their ears stopped twitching. 

Max turned to Grillby and in a low growl he said, “Whatever it is… it’s by the road.” 

The dread that had previously filled the monsters was replaced with terror. The family of bunnies huddled close to each other, the mother and father rabbits were desperately trying to keep their four terrified children calm. The elderly rock golem had pulled his knees up tight against his chest as he glanced wearily towards the cave entrance. 

From behind him Grillby heard Slider make a strange garbled whine before asking in a panicked voice, “C-captain, wh-where’s Toby?” 

Grillby stared in disbelief at the spot Toby had previously been sleeping in. His sleeping bag was there but indeed, it was empty. Why? Why didn’t that idiot tell anyone he was going to leave the cave? The anger directed at Toby and his total lack of common sense quickly ebbed away and a new anger emerged. He was angry at himself. He shouldn’t have let himself fall asleep. He should have established rules about leaving the cave. He shouldn’t have let his guard down, and this shouldn’t have happened. 

Grillby took a deep breath. Standing around wasn’t doing Toby any good. Shaking off the anger, he straightened up and pointed at Slider, ordering her to stay with the refugees and to try and radio for help. Slider snapped out of her panicked state and began to adjust the dials on the radio. The powerful radio strapped to her back should be strong enough to transmit a signal all the way to the Royal Army Headquarters. If that fails she can always attempt to contact one of the closer monster outposts. 

The two Greater Dog twins, who were already standing by the exit, were awaiting his orders. As he ran out of the cave he snapped his fingers and signaled for the two large hounds to follow him. They fell into place besides him instantly. 

Upon exiting the cave they followed the cries of pain through the thick trees and dense brush until they could see the road. That’s when Grillby came to an abrupt halt. Max and Rolo slid to a stop next to him. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing. 

Standing on the road was a group of well armored humans that clearly belonged to the United Human Empire. These were _soldiers_ and they were currently circled around a very battered looking Toby. 

But… that _couldn’t_ be right. Although the monsters were on bad terms with the humans, Grillby hadn’t heard any reports that stated the human kingdom was sending their soldiers to actually seek out and harm monsters. The report Grillby was given before they set out for this mission stated that there was a slim chance that they would have deal with renegade human militias, but this was a different beast entirely. What the hell was going on here? 

The humans laughed as they pushed Toby to the ground, and Grillby watched as Toby attempted to plead with the humans, but his cries for mercy fell on deaf ears. One of the humans kicked him in the ribs hard with an armor plated boot. The fox creature yelped and curled into fetal position, just trying to protect as much of himself as he could.

Grillby didn’t even try to hide his presence as it was practically impossible to remain stealthy at night with flames as bright as his. Instead he took a much more direct approach.  
He walked out of the trees and stepped onto the road. The laughing and jeering humans quieted as they watched this new fiery monster approach them. 

Grillby stopped short a few feet away from them and opened his arms wide. “Humans, you are part of the United Human Empire are you not?” Grillby was seething but he kept his emotions under control. If there was a chance to settle this peacefully he was going to take it. 

The tallest and most bulky human of the group pushed his way past the other glaring humans before stopping in front of Grillby. Sneering at the fire monster the human said, “Who wants to know?” 

“I am Grillby, Captain of Squad 22 of the Royal Army,” Grillby clench his fist before pointing a finger at the injured fox monster, “and that monster belongs to my squad. I sincerely suggest you release him as your current actions could be construed as an act of war.” Grillby’s tone was low and dangerous, causing some of the humans shiver. That’s when Grillby noticed these were the same exact humans from the checkpoint they had picked the monster refugees up from today. 

The human leader looked unfazed by the threat. “We have orders to eliminate every monster that we come across on this escort mission.” 

Grillby snorted, “That’s funny, because we have orders to do the same to any humans that threaten _our_ escort mission.” He sighed and crossed his arms. “Perhaps we can come to a compromise? Hand over my soldier and we can both continue on with our missions. No one needs to get hurt.”

The human leader began laughing as if Grillby had just told him the funniest joke he had ever heard. It wasn’t a warm laugh. It was cold and malicious. Grillby felt a foreboding chill settle into his flames. 

“What’s so funny?” He growled.

The human stopped laughing. He pulled out his sword, and signaled to his men. The other humans grabbed Toby under his arms, hauled him to his feet, and dragged him so he was facing Grillby.

“You my friend, you are so funny. Didn’t you hear me? I said we have orders to kill _every_ monster we see on this mission. Not just monsters that pose a _threat_ to our mission.”

Without any hesitation, the human grabbed Toby by the shoulder and plunged his sword through the monster’s back. Toby gasped and looked down at the blade protruding through his chest. Looking back up at Grillby he whispered, “R-run!” before crumbling to dust. 

The world around Grillby seemed to have slowed down. He barely even registered Max and Rolo jumping out of the trees. They were on the humans in seconds but it felt a lot longer that to him. The color appeared to bleed from the world as Grillby’s disbelief turned to raw hated. 

Toby had been his roommate at the Royal Army Academy. He had known Toby for _years_ and now he was gone. Gone because this worthless human standing before him had murdered him! 

Grillby lost control.

His flames erupted into a powerful inferno. The heat was so intense the leather straps of his armor burnt away and the chest plate fell to the ground. Now there was no barrier between his flames and their disgusting flesh. He grabbed the nearest human and let his flames wrap around them. The human struggled and cried out but it was useless. Grillby held tight as his flames consumed the man alive. He only let go once he was sure the human was dead. 

Max and Rolo shot each other a worried glance before backing away from their captain, fearing his heat. They had managed to kill only one human with their spears before their captain snapped. Now they could only stand to the side and watch as their captain incinerated the rest of the humans.

Grillby didn’t hear the screams of the humans as they attempted to flee his blaze. He could only hear a strange hissing noise. The whole experience was surreal. Grillby had never killed a human before and now he’s nearly killed an entire squad of them. Only one human was left. He saved the human leader for last so he could watch all his comrades die. 

You know, they say taking revenge on those who’ve wronged you won’t make you feel better, but right now Grillby felt pretty satisfied with the results.

Snarling, he turned towards the last human. He expected the human to cower in fear, but instead the human leader was laughing hysterically. Has the human gone mad? The laughter only served to anger Grillby further. 

“WHAT’S SO FUNNY NOW!?” he roared. His flames licked at the last remaining human causing him to choke on his laughter. 

“This was an escort mission remember? Don’t you want to meet the one we’re escorting? Heh, well… He just arrived.” The human pointed behind Grillby. Not willing to risk being tricked, Grillby allowed his flames to consume the human leader before turning around. 

Standing behind him was another human. He was wearing a grey cloak with a blue trim, and on his chest was the blue United Human Empire insignia. A hood obscured the human’s face but Grillby could tell this one was much older than the ones he had just killed. Grillby could practically feel power radiating off this new human and the human’s curious looking staff. 

“Cease your rampage foul monster!” The human’s voice boomed across the scorched landscape.  
Grillby hissed and launched himself at the human. But before he could wrap his flames around him, the man thrust his walking stick towards him. A blue bolt of magic hit Grillby in the chest causing him to fall to the ground in pain. 

This man was a magician. Grillby had never seen a human that commanded magic so effortlessly before. Magic was a rather hard subject for humans to grasp, and yet this one was tossing spells at him like it was nothing. Grillby picked himself up off the ground and sprinted at the magician again only to be tossed into the air by a wave of magic.  
When he crashed back to the ground he had to immediately start rolling as bolts of magic began flying towards his position. He rolled out of the way just in time, and caught a glimpse of the bolts slamming into the ground right where he had just been. 

He charged at the magician again.

“Don’t you think you’ve caused enough destruction for one day fire beast?” The human asked. His voice wasn’t nearly as strong as before. 

The magician was strong but Grillby could tell his magic attacks were weakening. He managed to avoid most of the incoming spells and now he was right on top of the man. His flames lashed out and wrapped around the magician’s wrist. The human shouted in pain and surprise, but just as he was about to let his fire consume the powerful human, the magician raised his staff and jabbed it right into Grillby’s face. A white light burst from the top of the staff and hit him right in the eyes. 

Grasping at his face, Grillby staggered backwards. As he rubbed at his stinging eyes with his hands he could hear the magician fleeing from the battle. Grillby might have given chase but right now he couldn’t see! After a solid minute of rubbing his eyes he finally lowered his hands and looked up. Oh no. No no no no! His vision was blurry and he could hardly see anything at all! Grillby fell to his knees. 

“Captain, are you alright?” Grillby could tell by the voice that it was Rolo. Looking up he could only see a large blob that must have been Rolo bending down. He could feel the Greater Dog grasp him by his shoulders. With a trembling hand he reached up and grabbed at Rolo’s hand for support.

“N-no! Something’s wrong, I ca-can’t see!” 

That was the last thing he said before darkness completely flooded his vision as he blacked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I mention that I suck at making original characters?
> 
> Feel free to comment! I love reading comments.


	3. The Royal Scientist

Grillby was drifting in darkness. The intensity of the darkness was very strange to the fire monster. No matter how bright he tried to make his flames the surrounding area seemed entirely unaffected by his efforts. It was just dark and nothing else. After what felt like an eternity, the darkness fell away and Grillby found himself standing on a tree lined road. A heavy fog had settled in and he couldn’t see more than six or seven feet ahead of him. Still, Grillby felt compelled to walk forward.

As he walked down the foggy path he could hear something. It sounded like someone was crying, and by the sound of it they were badly hurt. Grillby picked up the pace. He could see the shape of a small individual in the distance. As he approached, the features of this individual became clear. It was a small fox monster.

It was Toby. What was he doing here? Why wasn’t he in the cave with the others?

Toby had his back to him but Grillby could see him shaking as he cried. Grillby placed his hand on the fox’s shoulder and asked him what was wrong. Toby immediately stopped crying. Grillby felt a strange sense of foreboding and drew his hand away from the monster’s shoulder. As he did so, Toby turned around.

Grillby’s eyes widened in horror. Sticking out of his friend’s chest was a blade. It wasn’t just any blade, it was _his_ blade. Grillby looked down at the sheath that was attached to his belt where he typically kept his sword and of course it was empty.

“Wh-why couldn’t you save me Grillby? Why did I have to _die_?” Toby was begging him for an answer. An answer he didn’t have.

“No! I tried Toby, I tried… I tried!” Grillby cried.

The small fox monster began to fall forward. Grillby reached out to grab his falling friend only to find himself embracing dust.

Grillby screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed…. Screamed…. Screamed… Scream… Screa… Scre….

Reality distorted and the scene before him dissolved into darkness once more.

He continued to scream, but now he could hear voices through his cries.

“H-holy shit!”

[HURRY, USE THE ANESTHETIC!]

“But he’s m-made of fire! Wh-where do I inject-“

[USE THE GAS!]

Grillby couldn’t see anything, but he felt something being pressed against his face. He thrashed around trying to escape his attackers. He felt hands trying to press him down so he increased his heat.

“Ouch!”

[STAND CLEAR!]

He felt hands on him again but these were different. Much stronger. Grillby could feel himself weakening. Before he could even contemplate what was going on, the darkness enveloped him once more.

………………..

The next time Grillby woke up he still couldn’t see anything, but he noticed for the first time that he was lying down on a soft bed. He attempted to sit up but found he was tightly bound to the bed. Increasing his heat didn’t seem to affect the bindings.

The memories of what had happened flooded back into his mind and panic seeped in. Had he been captured by the humans? Where was his Squad?

Grillby took a deep breath to calm him down. Listening closely, he could hear something beeping softly. Was he in a hospital? The only other thing he could hear was a strange scratching noise in the distance. Was there someone with him?

“H-help… please! Can anyone hear me?”

[OH!]

It sounded like he startled someone nearby. Their voice was weird though, almost… electronic?

[HELLO. I AM VERY PLEASED THAT YOU ARE AWAKE.]

Grillby tried to pull on his restraints again.

[AH, LET ME TAKE THOSE OFF FOR YOU. I AM SORRY, BUT WE NEEDED TO STOP YOU FROM HURTING YOURSELF AND MY COLLEAGUES.]

As soon as the bindings were released Grillby brought his hands to his face. He could feel bandages wrapped around his head and covering his eyes. He tried to peel them away, but hands grabbed his wrists.

[PLEASE REFRAIN FROM REMOVING YOUR BANDAGES.] The electronic voice went on to explain how difficult it was to bandage fire.

Grillby lowered his hands and turned his head towards the source of the odd voice.

“Who are you, and where am I?”

[I AM DR. GASTER AND YOU ARE IN MY LABORATORY.]

Dr. Gaster? He knew that name. Every monster in the kingdom has heard of the Royal Scientist’s many achievements. What was he doing in the Royal Scientist’s laboratory and not in a hospital? When he asked Dr. Gaster this, the man’s electronic voice sounded a little distressed.

[WELL… I AM NOT SURE IF YOU REMEMBER, BUT YOU WERE BADLY WOUNDED DURING A FIGHT WITH A HUMAN MAGICIAN.]

Grillby nodded his head. He did remember being struck in the face with something during his fight with the magician.

[YOUR EYESIGHT WAS SEVERELY DAMAGED. I AM TRYING TO REVERSE THE EFFECTS BUT I HAVE SO FAR FAILED. I AM VERY SORRY.]

There was a heavy silence. So he was blind? Grillby felt cold, colder than he had ever felt before. Grillby unconsciously reached up and gripped the front of his t-shirt tightly. He didn’t question where the t-shirt came from. Right now he was just focusing on controlling his emotions. It was getting difficult.

A wave of many different emotions came crashing down on him all at once. He felt great sorrow for the loss of his friend. He felt angry at himself for being careless enough to let this happen. He felt rage towards the humans who dared to harm him, his friends, and his people. He felt sickened by the awful memories of him killing all those humans. Most of all he felt incredibly frightened. Frightened by the thought of living without his sight. How was he going to be able to provide for his family with an injury like this? Being treated by the Royal Scientist himself was probably going to cost a lot of money. Was he going to be unable to watch his _daughter_ grow up? No! He couldn’t take it!

These toxic thoughts boiled and twisted in his mind until it snapped like a rubber band pulled too far past its limits.

Unstable. He was unstable.

Grillby could feel his heat rising and he couldn’t stop it. His breathing became short and erratic. Violent termors wracked his body. He felt a foreign hand grip the hand he was currently using to put his shirt in a death grip. Frightened, he hissed and lashed out at the intrusive hand, smacking it away from him with his flames. He tried to back away but his back hit a wall. He was trapped! Blind and confused, he did the only thing he could do. He pulled his knees tightly against his chest and buried his face into them. His hands covered his head in a pathetic attempt to protect himself from a nonexistent enemy.

[PLEASE MR. GRILLBY, I MUST INSIST THAT YOU TAKE A DEEP BREATH BEFORE YOU EXHAUST YOURSELF AGAIN. NOT ALL IS LOST.]

The voice startled Grillby. He had completely forgotten about Dr. Gaster and as reality came crashing back down around him, he felt incredibly embarrassed about losing it in front of the Royal Scientist. Grillby took a deep, shuddering breath. After multiple deep breaths he finally regained control and his flames died down.

He realized that during his panic attack he had struck the Royal Scientist when the doctor had attempted to pry his hand away from his shirt. Feeling great shame, he apologized to the doctor for his actions.

[HMM? OH, DO NOT WORRY. THAT WAS NOT MY REAL HAND. I CAN SUMMON MAGIC HANDS TO HELP ME WITH MY WORK. YOU DID NOT HARM ME.]

There was a slight pause and Grillby could hear the sound of papers being flipped as well as some scratching noises that could only be the sound of the doctor writing things down. [I MUST SAY THOUGH THAT IT WAS VERY FORTUNATE THAT MY ONE OF MY COLLEAGUES HAD ENOUGH FORESIGHT TO PLACE A FIREPROOF SPELL ON YOUR CLOTHING AND BEDDING WHEN YOU WERE FIRST BROUGHT HERE. YOU ARE A VERY POWERFUL FIRE ELEMENTAL MONSTER, IT IS REALLY NO WONDER WHY THE KING HAS REQUESTED THAT I TREAT YOU MYSELF.]

Grillby went rigid and took a sharp inhale of breath before gasping out, “W-wait, the King asked you to treat me?” He was beyond confused.

[YES, THE KING HAS TAKEN WHAT YOU MIGHT CONSIDER A SPECIAL INTREST IN YOU AFTER HAVING HEARD ABOUT YOUR BRAVERY ON THE BATTLE FIELD. HE HAS EVEN FUNDED YOUR TREATMENT HIMSELF.]

Grillby snorted. “Bravery? I let my guard down which resulted in one of my soldiers getting killed, and after that I obliterated the enemy out of pure rage. When I encountered the magician, I didn’t stop to think about my own safety and now I can see, or rather… I CAN’T see how dearly I paid for that.” Grillby let out a frustrated, humorless laugh. “And now the King has wasted your time and his money. You even said it yourself; the effects of the spell appear irreversible.” He could feel himself beginning to heat up again.

Grillby had more to say but a pair of hands grabbed his shoulders and shook him hard, snapping him out of his tirade.

[STOP IT!] The doctor’s robotic voice echoed around the room.

The doctor's tone became harsh and urgent. [EVERYTHING YOU HAVE SAID IS NOT JUST IRRELEVANT, BUT COMPLETELY UNTRUE. YOU ARE ONLY ONE MONSTER. YOU COULD NEVER HAVE PREDICTED WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. YOU ARE BRAVE BECAUSE YOU WILLINGLY PUT YOURSELF IN HARMS WAY IN AN ATTEMPT TO SAVE YOUR COMRADE.]

The doctor paused momentarily to take his hands off the stunned fire monster before continuing.

[YOU ARE NOT ONLY BRAVE, BUT A HERO, MR. GRILLBY. IF YOU HAD NOT ELIMINATED THE HUMANS, THEY WOULD HAVE COMPLETED THEIR MISSION TO DELIVER A DANGEROUS MAGICIAN TO WHAT WE SUSPECT WAS A LOCATION CLOSE TO OUR BORDERS, WHICH LEADS US TO BELIEVE THAT THE HUMANS WERE PLOTTING AN ATTACK ON OUR CITIZENS. YOU UNCOVERED AND DISRUPTED AN ATTACK THAT WOULD HAVE BLINDSIDED US AND THROWN US INTO A WAR WE WERE NOT PREPARED FOR.]

Grillby sat motionless as the doctor paused again to scribble something down. Had he really prevented a massacre by intercepting the human escort mission, or was this all purely speculation on the doctor’s part?

Dr. Gaster’s electronic voice took on a much softer quality when he spoke again, [I WOULD ALSO LIKE YOU TO KNOW THAT I DO NOT BELIEVE YOU ARE A WASTE OF MY TIME. ALTHOUGH IT IS TRUE I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO REVERSE THE EFFECTS OF THE SPELL, I THINK I HAVE FOUND A WAY TO CIRCUMVENT THE ISSUE.]

Grillby felt a spark of guarded hope and turned to the voice before saying, “You think you can fix me?”

The Royal Scientist made an excited humming noise and said, [MR. GRILLBY, HOW WOULD YOU FEEL ABOUT TESTING AN EXPERIMENTAL PAIR OF GLASSES THAT COULD NOT ONLY FIX YOUR VISION, BUT IMPROVE IT AS WELL?]

How did he feel about that? He _felt_ that Dr. Gaster should have told him this news sooner. He didn’t say that though. Instead he said, “I feel like I’d be willing to try anything at this point to restore my vision, Dr. Gaster.” That must have been the right thing to say because Dr. Gaster made that excited humming noise again and the sound of him clapping his hands together filled the room.

[EXCELLENT.]

As the sound of a writing utensil furiously scribbling across paper filled the air, Grillby was suddenly struck with an uneasy feeling. Did he just sign himself up to be the Royal Scientist's test subject?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gaster doesn't use contractions when he talks... what a weirdo.

**Author's Note:**

> Did I mention that I suck at making original characters? 
> 
> Feel free to comment! I love reading comments.


End file.
